Body molding garments



Oct. 31, 1961 E. A. ROCKWELL BODY MOLDING GARMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 1, 1959 EILEEN A. RDEKXIJELL 12..., Kai- M ATTORNEY Oct. 31, 1961 E. A. ROCKWELL BODY MOLDING GARMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1, 1959 ATTORNEY? United States Patent 3,006,345 BODY MOLDING GARlVIENTS Eileen A. Rockwell, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to The La Resista Corset Company, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed May 1, 1959, Ser. No. 810,382 6 Claims. (Cl. 128-548) The present invention relates to an improvement in body molding garments, particularly of the girdle type, and has for an object to provide a garment which will effectually mold and confine the hip areas of the body at each side and at the same time exert uplifting molding and supporting pressures upon the abdominal and buttocks areas of the body. To this end it is proposed to employ knit or woven fabric embodying elastic filaments of rubber or other suitable material imparting elasticity in one direction of the fabric, and arranged to provide substantially wide diagonally disposed relatively high elastic strength bands dimensionally and directionally related to the areas of the body upon which molding and supporting pressures are to be concentrated, and to provide adjacent parallel relatively low elastic strength bands disposed at the upper and lower marginal portions of the garment, whereby these marginal portions will encompass the waist and thigh areas of the body with a high degree of comfort and freedom of movement. It is further proposed to provide a garment in which elastic side sections are arranged to exert diagonally directed pressures in an uplifting direction upon both the front and rear areas of the body from neutral lines of support extending substantially vertically along the side of the body.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein a satisfactory embodiment of the invention is shown. However, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details disclosed but includes all such variations and modifications as fall within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a garment according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of a portion of the elastic fabric employed in the garment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of a garment according to a modified form of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation.

FIG. 9 is a rear elevation.

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of a garment according to another modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 15, the garment, according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrated therein, is formed entirely of one-way stretch elastic fabric comprising a substantially wide band H having relatively high elastic strength, and marginal elastic bands L parallel to the longitudinal edges of the band H and having relatively low elastic strength, the elastic values of the bands being such that the band H has relatively greater resistance to stretch than the bands L, and consequently will exert greater pressure and pull under tension than the bands L. The fabric may be of any suitable type to accomplish the desired ends, either woven or knitted. FIG. 6 illustrates diagrammatically a knitted example wherein the high and low elastic strength sections H and L have respectively incorporated therein yarn wound rubber core strands 10 and 11 of respectively high and low elastic strength. For example, the rubber core of the strands 10 may consist of a pair of rubber filaments, while the core of the strand 11 may consist of a single rubber filament. The band H is specifically dimensioned in relation to the proportions of the parts of the body the garment is designed to control, and in practice it has been found that a satisfactory width dimension is approximately 8 inches.

The side portions of the garment comprise a pair of front side sections 12-42 and a pair of rear side sections 13-13, the front and rear side sections being joined at the respective sides of the garment by vertically extending side seams 1414, the seam at one side of the garment extending from the top to the bottom edge, while the seam at the other side extends downwardly to the lower edge from the lower end of an opening 15 extending to the top edge, and which is normally closed by a zipper fastener 16. The elastic material is arranged so that in the front side sections 12 the high elastic strength bands H extend from the seams 14 at each side in a diagonal direction downwardly toward the front, while in the rear side sections 13 the high strength elastic bands H extend from the seam lines 14 at each side in a diagonal direction downwardly toward the back, the upper and lower edges of the oppositely extending bands at each side coinciding at the seam line, so that in viewing the garment from the side, as seen in FIG. 2, the bands H at each side present an inverted V-shape. The upper and lower edges of the bands H are spaced from the upper and lower edges of the garment so that the low elastic strength bands L are disposed along the upper and lower margins of the garment which engage the waist and thigh areas of the body.

The front panel 17 of the garment is formed by carrying the elastic material of each of the forward side sections 12 to the front center line of the garment and folding back upon itself an extension portion of the material cut to the shape of half of the front panel, the two folded edges disposed along the front center line being stitched together by a seam 18 concealed within the folds of material, as shown clearly in FIG. 5, and the outer edges of the folded over panel portion being secured by zig-zag or ladder stitching 19. The front panel is thus formed by a double thickness of the elastic material, and as the diagonal direction of stretch of the material in the folded over panel portions is transverse to the diagonal direction of stretch of the material in the side sections 12, the front panel 17 is rendered substantially non-elastic, the elasticity of one thickness being cancelled out by the transverse disposition of the other thickness.

The back panel 20 is formed in a similar manner to the front panel 17, folded over extensions of the material of the rearward side sections 13 being secured along the rearward center line by a concealed seam 21 and the outer edges of the folded over sections being secured by zig-zag or ladder stitching 22. It will be observed from FIG. 4 that this folded over construction of the front and back panels provides an inner surface to the garment substantially free of over-lapped seams, the wide bands H extending in substantially unbroken fashion from the side seams 14 to the forward and rearward center seams 18 and 21.

The upper and lower edges of the garment are respectively provided with elastic tape covered inturned hems 23 and 24 secured by stretchable zig-zag or ladder stitching to permit stretching of these edges. Along the inner side of the side seam 1'4 opposite the Zipper fastener, there is preferably provided a vertical stay 25 extending from the upper edge of the garment to a point substantially in proximity to the hip line. Suitably spaced loops 26 are secured to the lower edge of the garment for the attachment of hose supporters.

In the operation of the garment the vertical side seams 14 constitute substantially vertically extending neutral areas from which the wide bands H extend diagonally downwardly to the front and rear panels to exert uplifting pull upon the forward and rear areas of the body engaged by the front and rear panels. By virtue of the substantial width of the bands H molding and supporting pressure is applied to the sides of the body over relatively large areas of the hips, while at the same time the marginal bands L which engage the waist and thigh areas of the body and are of relatively lower elastic strength than the bands H maintain the smooth lines of the garment through their continuity to the bands H, preventing the marginal edges of the latter from cutting into the body under tension, as would be the case if the high elastic strength bands had free marginal edges. The marginal bands L being of relatively low elastic strength also comfortably conform to the body to maintain the garment against displacement while at the same time allowing complete freedom of movement.

In FIGS. 7-9 there is illustrated a modified form of the invention in which the front and rear panels are separately formed from the side sections, the front panel 27 being formed of non-stretchable fabric material and being secured at its side edges to the front edges of the side sections 12 along stitched seams 23. Suitable stiffening stay means 29 is provided in the upper portion of the front panel, and at its lower end there is provided a horizontally elastic gusset insert 30.

The rear panel comprises a main section 31 preferably formed of one-way stretch fabric having stretch in a vertical direction, and a pair of horizontally stretchable sections 32 disposed between the upper edge of the garment and the upper edge of section 31, the lower edges of sections 32 being preferably substantially in line with the upper diagonal edges of the high elastic strength band sections H of the rear side panels 13. The rear side panels are secured along their rearward edges to the side edges of the back panel by zig-zag or ladder stitching 33. Stays 34 are preferably provided along the seam lines 33 from the upper edge of the garment substantially to the hip line.

The garment as shown in FIGS. 7-9 is a long type girdle as distinguished from the short type girdle as shown in FIGS. 1-5, but it will be understood the panel modifications as shown in the two forms may be embodied in either of them. The operation of the garment is substantially the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-5, the front and rear side sections exerting tension in diagonally downward directions from the neutral line of the side seam 14 toward the front and rear panels and the high elastic strength bands H being directed to concentrate uplifting support upon the abdominal and buttocks areas of the body.

In FIG. there is illustrated another modification, substantially identical to the modification of FIGS. 7-9, except that instead of the side seams 14 directly connecting the front and rear side sections, a non-elastic fabric strip 35 is interposed between the front and rear side sections and secured by stitched seams 36 and 37. These strips at each side are preferably provided with a pair of stays 38-33 extending along the side edges from the upper end of the garment substantially to the hip line. The strip 35 at one side of the garment (not shown) is a continuous unbroken piece of material between the upper and lower ends, while the strip 35 at the other side, as shown in FIG. 10, is provided with a vertical opening 39 extending from the upper edge for a substantial portion of its length and provided with a Zipper fastening 40.

What is claimed is:

1. In a body molding garment, a front panel, a rear panel, and a pair of side portions connected to the side edges of said front and rear panels along seam lines extending from the top to the bottom edge of the garment, and having top and bottom edges respectively in the circumferential line of the top and bottom edges of said front and rear panels, said side portions comprising pairs of forward and rearward side sections of one-Way stretch elastic material vertically co-extensive with said side portions and connected together along substantially vertically extending neutral areas extending from said top edge to said bottom edge, the forward side sections for the full height between said top and bottom edges of said side portions having their stretch directions diagonally downward from said neutral areas to the front panel and to said bottom edge of said side portions and said rearward side sections having their stretch directions diagonally downward from said neutral areas to said rear panel and to said bottom edge of said side portions.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said side sections each comprise single layer upper and lower bands respectively bordering said upper and lower edges of said side portions and a single layer intermediate band having a greater elastic strength than said upper and lower bands, the diagonal stretch directions of said upper and lower bands being parallel to the diagonal stretch direction of said intermediate band.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1, further characterized by a pair of side strips of non-stretchable material respectively interposed between said forward and rearward side sections at the respective sides of the garment.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1, further characterized in that said front panel comprises forward integral extension portions of said forward side sections joined along a substantially vertically extending central front seam and folded back upon themselves along said front seam with the outer edges of the folded back portions secured exteriorly to said forward side sections in outwardly spaced relation to said front seam, whereby a front panel having inner and outer layers is produced having an inner surface continuous with the inner surfaces of said forward side sections and wherein the stretch di rection of the inner layer is diagonally downward toward said front seam and the stretch direction of the outer layer is diagonally downward away from said front seam.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1, further characterized in that said rear panel comprises rearward integral extensions of said rearward side sections joined along a substantially vertically extending central back seam and folded back upon themselves along said back seam with the outer edges of the folded back portions secured exteriorly to said rearward side sections in outwardly spaced relation to said back seam, whereby a rear panel having inner and outer layers is produced having an inner surface continuous with the inner surfaces of said rearward side sections and wherein the stretch direction of the inner layer is diagonally downward toward said back seam and the stretch direction of the outer layer is diagonally downward away from said back seam.

6. The invention as defined in claim 1, further characterized in that said front panel comprises forward integral extension portions of said forward side sections joined along a substantially vertically extending central front seam and folded back upon themselves along said front seam with the outer edges of the folded back portions secured exteriorly to said forward side sections in outwardly spaced relation to said front seam, whereby a front panel having inner and outer layers is produced having an inner surface continuous with the inner surfaces of said forward side sections and wherein the stretch diIeCtiQB 0i inner layer is diagonally downward toward said front seam and the stretch direction of the outer layer is diagonally downward away from said front seam, and said rear panel comprises rearward integral extension portions of said rearward side sections joined along a substantially vertically extending central hack seam and folded back upon themselves along said back seam with the outer edges of the folded back portions secured exteriorly to said rearward side sections in outwardly spaced relation to said back seam, whereby a rear panel having inner and outer layers is produced having an inner surface continuous with the inner surfaces of said rearward side sections and wherein the stretch direction of the inner layer is diagonally downward toward said back seam and the stretch direction of the outer layer is diagonally downward away from said back seam.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

